Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster review: zombie classic still holds up

Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster MSRP $50.00 Score Details Pros

The original's core holds up
Satirical narrative still feels relevant
Great emergent gameplay moments
Frank's new look and voice actor work

Cons

Plays it a little safe
Lack of flourish in psychopath fights

Whenever a game gets a faithful remake or remaster, part of me worries that I’ll learn a game I love doesn’t hold up anymore. It’s commendable not to change the vision of the original developers, but what if that vision does not quite work as well in 2024 as it did when the game was released? For games like Destroy All Humans, its re-creation highlighted its flaws rather than its greatest strength. Sometimes, a remake feels completely unnecessary, like the one Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons received back in February.

These concerns were at the top of my mind when I first booted up Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster from Capcom, which is actually more of a remake of the company’s experimental 2006 zombie game. Dead Rising played around with a lot of unique ideas, such as a 72-hour clock that ticks down each time players enter a new area of the mall. There’s a certain number of survivors to save, psychopaths to fight, and main story objectives to complete — and players have minimal time to do so.

I wondered if that would feel as engaging in 2024 as it did in 2006. Thankfully, it does. Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster is a delight to play through all these years later. It’s faithful to the original, features a narrative that feels more relevant than ever, and still dishes out tense emergent moments through its timer system. When it does make a tweak, it often feels intentional and never hurts the game. If you haven’t played a Dead Rising game before, this is the place to start.

A zombie narrative with bite

Dead Rising follows a photojournalist named Frank West who sneaks into the Colorado town of Willamette, which the military is beginning to lock down. It turns out that there’s a zombie outbreak in this small town,